England bat first at Lord's

London - England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat against New Zealand in the first Test at Lord's on Thursday.

Blue skies overhead and the prospect of a typically good Lord's pitch suggested conditions would favour the batsmen.

England recalled fit-again Graeme Swann, after the off-spinner recovered from an elbow injury, but left seamer Tim Bresnan out of their 12-man squad.

Swann came in for left-arm spinner Monty Panesar in the only change to the England side that drew their last Test match against New Zealand at Auckland in March, when wicket-keeper Matt Prior's unbeaten hundred helped stave off defeat and ensure a three-match series ended all square at 0-0.

New Zealand were unchanged from the side that played in Auckland, with spinner Bruce Martin retaining his place after the tourists decided against fielding Doug Bracewell in what would otherwise have been an all-seam attack.

This is the first of a two-match series which will conclude with the second Test at Headingley starting a week on Friday.

Teams:

England: Alastair Cook (captain), Nick Compton, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Jonathan Bairstow, Matt Prior (wkt), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, James Anderson

New Zealand: Peter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Dean Brownlie, Brendon McCullum (captain), BJ Watling (wkt), Tim Southee, Bruce Martin, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Steve Davis (AUS)

TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)

Match referee: David Boon (AUS)